When I began planning this shoot along with Terri & Ariellah, I thought it would be cool to include my grandmother's china since it's so beautiful and very garden-y. We set the date for the shoot and it didn't hit me until weeks later - that the shoot would be on April 19th, exactly two months after she passed away on February 19th (God thinks of everything).

The day of the shoot, a few things worked against us. Terri had to drive all over town to get the right flowers she wanted for the bouquet, and then I locked my keys and all my gear in my car right before we were going to leave to shoot. Of course. Thankfully it wasn't raining that day, but it was becoming increasingly clouded over, which meant it would get dark earlier. Inside I slightly panicked, thinking, "No! It has to be today! It's the 19th!" Thankfully with a lot of effort on the part of the AAA guy, my car was unlocked in about an hour and we were still able to shoot in the last light of the day in a field right near my house.

I was pretty amazed with how the photos turned out despite all of these little issues. But as Terri said while we were shooting, we often create best out of our lack - we just make the most of it and trust that God knows what He's doing, even down to these seemingly small details. I'm so thankful He stretches us in our creativity in this way. In the end, the final result may even be better than if we had been as prepared as we originally wanted to be.